For the second time in a week, the Chicago Cubs play a win-or-go-home game, this time against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday in Game 3 in their best-of-five NL Division Series.
Once again, the Cubs will turn to Jameson Taillon.
Taillon tossed four scoreless, two-hit innings against the San Diego Padres last Thursday and Chicago went on to take the deciding Game 3 of their Wild Card Series 3-1. The right-hander was focused, striking out four and walking none before five relievers wrapped it up.
What we know:
This time, the Cubs need to prevail in three straight elimination contests to keep their season alive. The Brewers have a 2-0 lead in the series following 9-3 and 7-3 wins in Milwaukee when they ambushed Chicago’s thinned pitching staff and limited the Cubs to 10 total hits.
“I mean, look, we’ve had experience with it,” manager Craig Counsell said on Tuesday. “We just did it on Thursday. And now we’re going to have to do it three times.”
Teams falling behind 2-0 in a best-of-five postseason series have won just 10 out of 90 times. Any Cubs recovery starts with the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Taillon.
“It starts tomorrow, and obviously being a starting pitcher, hopefully I can do my job and set the tone and see where that can take us,” Taillon said.
“So how that pertains to me is just doing my job, going out there and setting the tone, preparing the right way, taking notes, watching video, going about my process the right way, and making sure I’m buttoned up and ready to go. “
Taillon was 11-7 with a 3.68 ERA in the regular season, his ninth in the majors. He was on the injured list twice, in July with a right calf strain and in August with a groin strain.
On Wednesday, the 33-year-old must hold Milwaukee in check early. The Brewers scored nine runs the first two innings on Saturday and seven on three homers in the first four innings on Monday.
Taillon hopes to channel energy from Wrigley Field fans, even if he won’t show it on the mound.
“I think it’s a good lesson to myself when the crowd is that electric and the moment is that big and the pressure is that big and important, an executed pitch is still the best pitch,” he said. “I don’t need to be out there pounding my chest.
“If I gain a mile an hour from adrenaline, that is not really going to matter. What is going to matter is whether I sequence right and execute pitches the right way. I kind of plan on just doubling down with that again.”
Counsell is banking on it.
“I think what you want from all your players is just the best version of themselves and to, as much as you can, be yourself and kind of let the moment elevate you,” Counsell said. “I think that’s what (Taillon) did. He pitched like he pitches, didn’t try to do something different than he’s good at.
“I think he did let, kind of, the moment take him to another place and that’s exactly what you want.”
Dig deeper:
Meanwhile, Cubs hitters have to bust out of their funk.
At the All-Star break, Chicago was 57-39 and second in the majors in runs scored with 512. In the second half, the Cubs went 35-31 and scored 281 times as marquee players — most notably All-Stars Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker — slumped for long stretches. Tucker still seems to be dealing with a left calf strain that sidelined him most of September.
But Chicago has no more room for error.
“But part of being great at this is responding to the bad stuff and running towards it, man,” Counsell said. “That’s part of this. You can’t be afraid of it. We put ourselves in a hole this series; no question about it. We get to decide how the story ends.”
